Accidents Happen
by HeartAngel1796
Summary: Marinette gets hurt during an akuma fight and it's all Chat Noir's fault. It was an accident of course, but he still feels incredibly guilty. So guilty, he'll do whatever he can to make it up to her. Marichat story for Marichat May.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello people of the fanfiction world!**

**I know I have other stories that still need finishing (hate leaving stories untouched for too long). But sometimes I can't help it. It all depends on what my mind is thinking and won't leave me alone.) ****Great example; I had this idea one night as I was falling asleep and decided to just jump right on it the next morning (which I don't usually do. Most of the time I take way longer to think over a story before deciding to write it, or at least online it).**

**Plus I wanted to make a contribute to Marichat May. I definitely won't be able to finish this before the month is over but I at least had to post this 1st chapter while it was still May.**

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Marinette did not hide during akuma fights. Well, she did, but only so she could transform into Ladybug. Then after she was in costume, she was out again and where all the action was.

This time, however, she _was_ where the action was, but she was hiding instead of fighting.

Marinette and Alya were on their way out of the school for lunch break when this akumatized student from another class just appeared in the courtyard. Alya pulled Marinette down with her as she hid behind the stairs and started filming the event on her phone. A few of their other classmates also hid with them. With all these extra eyes around, Marinette couldn't sneak away without looking suspicions.

Adrien was already alone in the locker rooms when he heard there was an akuma on school grounds, so he was able to transform no problem and get out there.

Chat Noir snuck out a window and made his way up to the roof, where he dropped down into the courtyard to face the akuma. From just one look, Chat could tell this akuma was the result a girl having a very bad morning.

"I am Miss Fortune! Prepare to have the most unlucky day of your lives!"

Her hair was a weird shade of pale blue in a side ponytail. She wore a short purple dress with gray ripped up leggings and red high-heels. The part of her outfit that most stood out, however, was her belt. He was quite sure that was where the akuma was. All along the belt around her waist were charms that looked like images of general symbols that meant bad luck; a three-leafed clove, an upside-down horseshoe, a ladder, a tilted salt shaker, a broken mirror, and—to the feline hero's annoyance—a black cat.

That was a hurtful stereotype that Chat was hoping would go away with his heroic presence in Paris. Unfortunately, it was still believed by some. Black cats weren't always considered unlucky. In some cultures, they were good luck.

"Well my luck has already turned. I had lunch plans today," Chat said to mostly himself as he drew his baton from behind his back and extended it into a staff to fight the akumatized girl.

Having to fight this girl on this day at this time was rotten luck for Adrien. That morning before class started, Adrien had been invited to have lunch with his three greatest friends; Nino, Alya, and Marinette. And they were gotta eat at Marinette's house. Her parents were bakers so he knew the food would be excellent. He had only tried their food once or twice, so he was eager to see whatever it was they had prepared for their daughter and her friends. Plus, he liked it at her house. It was warm and cozy, her parents were nice, and he would be surrounded by his friends while they ate a delicious home-cooked meal.

It certainly beat sitting alone in a big, empty dining room, at the head of a giant table, eating a boring meal specially prepared for his model-diet by a paid chef. That was basically every meal of Adrien's life at his house.

The young model was really looking forward to this lunch break, but because he had this akuma to deal with, he'll be lucky to grab something quick from the school café before afternoon classes started. Unless of course, this akuma took the rest of the day to capture, then he won't have to worry about afternoon classes or lunch.

Oh well. Marinette was nice. Maybe she would invite him and the others to her house for lunch tomorrow to make up for the disturbance today. That was what Adrien hoped for anyway.

While thinking about Marinette, Chat turned his head as he retreated from an attack by Miss Fortune and there she was, hiding under the stairs along with some of his other classmates and friends. She looked very concerned. He could see her big blue eyes filled with worry as she watched the akuma fight him.

He couldn't let her and the others stay there. It wasn't safe for them.

After dodging another strike from Miss Fortune, Chat jumped over to the stairs.

"You guys can't stay here," he said hastily to the small group. "I'll cover you while you all make a run for the front door." Chat jumped away again to keep Miss Fortune focused on him so his classmates could slip out.

Once Chat had the unlucky akuma on the other side of the courtyard, Marinette and the others walked swiftly and silently from the stairs and walked along the wall until they reached the front door. As they made their escape, Chat's fight with Miss Fortune moved up from the courtyard to the walkway on the second floor.

"I was going to use my black cat charm on Ladybug to make her so unlucky there'd be no way she could beat me," Miss Fortune said, gesturing to the black cat charm attached to her belt. "But now I'm thinking, why bother? She's already got you," she said, giving her opponent a nasty smirk.

Chat growled. This girl was obviously very superstitious and it was really starting to get on his nerves. He wasn't unlucky. And he wasn't unlucky to his lady. They worked great together and triumphed in all their endeavors. Chat wanted to just cataclysm her belt and get it over with so he could have lunch with his friends, but he couldn't. Ladybug wasn't there to purify the akuma once it was released.

Where the heck was she?

Miss Fortune came at Chat again but he jumped back, closer to the front of the school. If he couldn't free the akuma, maybe he could at least trap her. That way she couldn't do any damage to Paris and he could easily take her belt from her and destroy it when Ladybug did show up.

Chat looked around, trying to think of a way to trap her. Based on her powers, he didn't think it would take much to incapacitate her. Maybe just tie her up, just so she couldn't use her hands and grab the charms on her belt. He hadn't seen her use her powers yet but he was sure they came from those bad luck charms.

If she couldn't get at the charms, she was powerless.

Not seeing anything useful around him on the second floor, Chat's eyes glanced down at the floorboards of the walkway that they stood on. That gave him an idea. If he cataclysmed the floor and she fell through up to her waist, she'd be stuck and wouldn't be able to reached down to her belt. That would certainly trap her.

He just hoped Ladybug showed up before his miraculous ran out of time after using his special power. He could stay with Miss Fortune just to make sure she didn't try to escape, and if she didn't come before that happened, he could just take her belt with him. As long as he didn't snap it in half and release the akuma before his lady finally came, everything would be fine.

As they approached the end of the walkway, close to the stairs that lead up to the library, Chat decided to make his move.

"Cataclysm!" Chat cried, summoning his special power into his right hand.

He'd show her who was unlucky. Can't get more unlucky then having the ground fall from underneath your feet.

The last of Miss Bustier's class all made it to the front of the school and rushed out the front door. Marinette was at the back of the group, so when the last of her classmates were outside, she started walking backwards until she was back down in the courtyard, the archway just above her to her right. The young designer looked up to the second-floor walkway and watch as Chat Noir faced the akuma by himself.

Now that she was away from everyone else, Marinette could finally run off and transform in a closet or empty classroom. She watched as Chat was about to cataclysm something—she wasn't sure what—and she didn't get to fine out, because before he could use it, the bottom of Miss Fortune's shoes met his leather-clad chest and sent him to the floor on his back.

When he turned over to stand up—mindful of his right hand—he felt something grab at his belt-tail and pull. Miss Fortune grabbed a hold of his tail and pulled it hard. Hard enough to drag Chat back, spin him around and hurl him back towards the end of the walkway, right at the bottom of the stairs that lead up to the library.

Chat was holding his own for a while but now he needed his partner.

"Marinette, what are you doing?" she heard her best friend yell. Marinette turned her head and say Alya standing just outside the front doors of the school. "Come on," she said, gesturing for her to come out with her.

"Uh…" Marinette stuttered. She wasn't expecting for anyone to notice she hadn't gone outside with the others. At least not until she found a well-hidden place to transform. "Chat Noir's in trouble and Ladybug isn't here yet." Not her best excuse but looking like just a concerned citizen was all she could think of.

"He told us to get away," Alya called back. Marinette mentally groaned, wishing the blogger would just go back outside and leave her. But she knew she wasn't going to do that. Not when her best friend was in potential danger.

As the two girls talked from opposites sides of the school's entrance, Chat sat back up on the first step of the library stairs. Miss Fortune stood back a few feet, leaning on the walkway's railing with a smug smile as she watched the feline hero sit up.

"I control bad luck. You on the other hand," the akumatized girl gave a huffy laugh. "You're an accident just waiting to happen."

Chat growled under his breath at the snide remark, pulling himself up to glare at her over the stair's stone handrailing, which was connected to the opposite staircase that formed the archway over the entrance of the school. "I am not an accident waiting to happen," he said gruffly, supporting his weight on the stone with his left hand. Angry and not thinking, Chat also brought his right hand up—still glowing black miasma from his power. "And I am _not_ **bad luck!**"

In his rage, Chat balled his right hand into a fist and pounded it on the stone railing. The moment he did it, however, Chat's anger melted away to make way for the dumb realization of what he had just done.

The destructive powers of his cataclysm spread from the railing to the rest of the archway, making it crack to pieces and start to fall apart.

Even as Marinette still stood in the courtyard, she was too busy arguing with her best friend to notice this until a piece fell not a few feet away from her. When she did finally look up to see the crackling structure, she had all of three seconds to take in what was happening before a piece came flying right at her.

After that, everything went for her went black.

"MARINETTE!"

Among the loudness of the crumbling arch, Chat heard someone who sounded like Alya scream at the top of their voice. But Chat wasn't thinking about who screamed. The first thing that struck him was _what_ she had shouted.

Marinette. What happened to Marinette that warranted such a horrified outburst?

Chat looked over the railing and watched as an enormous amount of dust from the crumbled stone rose up to the second floor. Chat covered his eyes from the dust for a second before looking down to see the damage that had been caused.

That _he_ had caused.

What he saw was a mountain of rubble blocking the school's front door. His sharp cat eyes franticly looked around for any sign that anyone was down there during the collapse. He refused to believe anyone had gotten hurt because of his little mistake. Yet he still couldn't ignore that shout he clearly heard.

Hearing someone yell Marinette's name like that had him worried more than he could ever remember being.

She couldn't have been down there. She just couldn't have.

There was still too much dust in the air to see properly, even for him. Chat jumped down to the courtyard and ran to the pile of rubble. Chat coughed and fanned some dust away with his hand as he looked around. As the dust started to settle, he could start to better make out shapes in the pile. Most of the pieces were not too big, but they were piled pretty high in front of the entrance. Somewhere on the other side, Chat could vaguely hear the sound of shifting rubble and a few frantic voices—although he couldn't exactly tell what they were saying.

Chat's eyes when back to the rubble. The moment they did, however, he saw something standing out among the light-colored stone lying on the ground of the courtyard.

A small foot, wearing a pink ballet-flat shoe.

Chat froze as his eyes trailed from the foot and up the leg it was attached to.

There, half buried in the rubble, Chat could see the back of a black shirt and a familiar head of bluenette hair.

"No," Chat whispered. "No, no, no, no, no!" his voice escalated with his repetition as he ran over to the unmoving body on the ground. The feline boy slid to his knees, franticly but carefully, removing the stone bits from off her body. When she was free, Chat turned her over and, to his horror, his assumption was correct.

It was indeed Marinette he had just dug up.

Her eyes were closed, her once perfect porcelain skin was littered with bruises and a few scratches.

Blood ran in a narrow stream from a small open wound on her forehead, close to her hairline on the right side, down the side of her face.

"Mar-Marinette," he uttered, his voice trembling. Chat pulled her up to his chest, cradling her in his arms. He quickly grabbed her wrist and checked her pulse. It was there. She was alive. But that didn't mean she wasn't in trouble. "Marinette? Marinette, can you hear me?" He got no answer as he lightly shook her. As his left hand supported her head, a little blood got on his black gloves. But he didn't notice, nor did he care. "Come on Mari, please wake up," he pleaded, but he got nothing but silence from her.

Looking down at her relaxed face, she looked like she was sleeping. But that was a mirage.

She could have a concussion. She could slip into a coma. She could have a skull fracture. She could have other broken bones or internal bleeding from the rubble that she had been buried in.

As Chat thought of each of these possibilities, his anxiety built into a heavy weight in his chest, making him breath heavier.

But that weight was nothing compared to the guilt piling on his heart.

He had done this.

His Cataclysm had destroyed the arch. He let that akuma rile him and he let his anger make him foolishly use it on the wrong thing.

She didn't deserve this. Not Marinette.

Marinette was the kindest, sweetest, bravest, most selfless person in their entire school.

In all of Paris if he didn't count Ladybug.

On top of all that… Marinette was his friend. One of the first true friends he had ever made.

What kind of friend was he to do this to her?

Maybe that Miss Fortune akuma was right. Maybe he was bad luck.

Even if he didn't mean too, he just hurt one of his closest friends.

"Mari…" Chat let a sob escape his throat as he held her close to his chest, her bleeding head leaning against his shoulder. Tears fell from his eyes and onto her dust-covered shirt. "Oh Ma-Marinette… I'm sorry. Please forgive me. I'm so sorry," he begged, slightly rocking the both of them.

If Marinette ever woke up, he didn't see how she was ever going to forgive him.

He certainly didn't see how he was ever going to forgive himself.

From the roof of the school, Miss Fortune watched all of this unfold. She made a light 'tut-tut' sound as she subtly shook her head. "Poor dear. I knew that black cat was nothing but trouble," she said, almost sympathetic for the injured little lady. It wasn't her fault the cat _literately_ destroys whatever he touches. This just further proved her point. "And speaking of trouble…" she said gleefully before raising her gaze from down in the courtyard to the city outside of the school. "It's Paris's turn."

The bad luck akuma jumped from the roof and made her way into Paris, eager to see what misfortune she could bring with her new powers.

She wouldn't seriously hurt anyone like _the cat_ had done. Her goal was to just make them miserable and ruin their day. Because unlike the cat, she actually had control of the bad luck she caused.

Chat Noir didn't pay the akuma any attention as she left. All he could focus on was Marinette. She needed him.

No, he was wrong. He just made things worse.

What she needed was a doctor.

Chat's head snapped up to the sounds of moving debris and voices from the school's entrance growing louder. The feline hero turned his head to the other side of the entrance, and through his tear-blurry vision, he could see chunks of stone tumbling down the pile. Seconds later, a small opening was cleared, just big enough for a person to squeeze through, and through it stumbled out Alya, covered in stone dust and with a desperately worried look on her face as she looked around the courtyard.

Until her eyes settled on her best friend in the arms of the leather-clad, feline hero on the other end of the heap.

Alya's eyes widened and she scrambled over to them. "Chat Noir!" she cried. "Marinette!"

Right behind her, coming through the opening in the rubble, came Nino, followed closely by the rest of their class, one by one.

Alya slid to her knees in front of them, frantically looking over her unresponsive best friend. "I did this," Chat muttered as the other students started crowding around them. He didn't care if they heard him admit that he was the one who did this to their beloved class rep. They deserved to know. And he didn't deserve their praise for digging her out. He was not the hero today. This was his fault.

Wiping his tears away, Chat stood, Marinette's unconscious form cradled protectively in his arms. "I… I gotta get her to the hospital," he said, determined but still tearful.

A high-pitched beep sounded in the air, making everyone look at the feline hero's right-hand supporting Marinette's legs.

"Your ring," Nino said as one of the green pads of the paw print on his ring blinked and vanished. "You're gonna transform back. You gotta get out of here."

His best friend was right of course, but he just shook his head. "No, no. She n-needs help," Chat uttered weakly before looking down at the girl in his arms. He was fast. He could rush her to the hospital.

He couldn't leave her. Not like this.

"I'm on the phone with emergency services," he heard Rose say from somewhere among the group. Chat looked up and saw the short blonde girl in pink holding her phone up to her ear. She too had some tears in her eyes and running down her cheeks, but Juleka held her in a comforting side hug. "An ambulance is on the way."

An ambulance was coming.

While that was good to hear, Chat still didn't want to leave her. But his transformation was going to wear off soon. He couldn't reveal his identity to his classmates. As much as he wanted to just strew secrecy and save Marinette himself, he knew he wouldn't be able to get her to the hospital before he changed back.

His classmates would watch over Marinette until the ambulance arrived and the paramedics would take good care of her until they got her to the hospital.

Kim walked up to Chat and held out his arms to take Marinette from him.

"We'll take care of her," he told him reassuringly. "She'll be fine. Just go."

Reluctantly, Chat carefully placed the small bluenette in Kim's arms. Once he had her, Kim turned around where Ivan was waiting with open arms.

Kim was an athlete, but speed was more his thing. Fastest in the class. The position of strongest in the class, however, went to Ivan. He was the best suited in carrying Marinette out of the school.

When Ivan had Marinette securely in his arms, Chat stepped up to him, looking down at Marinette's relaxed face. Seeing her eyes closed and blood on her head made him want to break down crying again. But he couldn't. He didn't have time. He was on his last paw pad.

With a shuttered breath, Chat took Marinette's hand in both of his. "Please be okay, Marinette," he whispered, squeezing her hand, pleading to her—and whoever else was listening—that his dear friend would be okay.

Chat quickly took his hands back and forced his gaze from her. Avoiding eye contact with everyone else in the vicinity, with tears in his eyes, Chat ran from the group and jumped up to the roof of the school and out of the courtyard.

After watching the feline hero leave, Alya directed everyone to try moving more rubble from the clearing they had already made in the pile blocking the entrance to make it easier for Ivan to get through with Marinette in his arms.

They needed to be out of the school and on the sidewalk to meet the ambulance when in arrived.

Everyone, including Chat Noir as he landed on the sidewalk just outside the right side of the school, could already hear a siren in the distance.

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**I know 'Miss Fortune' is a theory of an akumatized Ladybug, but I though a bad luck themed akuma was appropriate for the beginning on this story. And I couldn't come up with a better name.**

**I have the next chapter pretty much planned out (not written yet), but not much of what comes after that. But I know I'll come up with something.**

**Hope this has peaked your interest, bye-bye ;) **


	2. Chapter 2

**Sup everybody, I'm back!**

**This chapter is shorter then I had planned originally. I decided to cut the aftermath of the incident into this chapter and then the next (mostly because I haven't updated this in longer than I would have liked and I at least had this part done, so I figured I'd just post this now for u guys).**

**Thanks for all the favs, follows, and nice reviews after just 1 chapter. **

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In a flash of green, Plagg burst out of his miraculous, leaving Adrien standing on the sidewalk of the empty street. Adrien leaned his back against the outside wall of the school. Before Plagg could ask for his cheese, he watched his holder lean his head back against the stone and slide down the wall until he was sitting on the ground.

A horrible sob ripped from his throat and fat tears—bigger than the ones he cried earlier—poured from his eyes and down his cheeks. With his legs bent up in front of him, Adrien rested his arms on the tops of his knees and hid his face in them.

Plagg looked at him sadly before flying over to him and landing on his shoulder.

"Okay kid, calm down. Deep breathes," the kwami said, trying to comfort his holder. He reached up with his tiny paw hand and patted the crying boy's neck.

Adrien's back and shoulders shook with sobs for another minute before slightly lifting his head. "I… m-my fault… Mar-Marinette…" he managed to choke out in between sobs.

"Hey, it was not your fault," Plagg told him. He recalled his holder getting angry and slamming his fist on that stone with his powers. He heard what that creepy girl was saying about them. Akumatized or not—how dare she. "That girl, mocking us. Saying black cats are nothing but bad luck. Humph!" Plagg grumbled to himself, sitting down in a huff. Another miserable sob from his young holder snapped Plagg's attention back to him. "Adrien, it was an accident," he said to him.

Adrien raised his head further, resting his chin on top of his arms. "But… I-I hurt her." Adrien sniffled before raising one hand to wipe his wet cheeks. "I destroyed the-the archway-" he uttered, covering his eyes with his hand as another sob overcame him.

"Okay, fine! It's true, you destroyed the archway," Plagg said, exasperated. "But there's usually more to accidents like these," he said more gently.

Adrien turned his head and looked at his kwami with a raised brow. "W-what do you mean?"

Plagg flew from the young model's shoulder and floated in front of him, a few inches from his face. "Didn't you tell her and the other kids to make for the door and go outside where they would be safe? She shouldn't have still been in the courtyard, let alone standing under that arch," he explained. "And of course, that akuma was making you mad. You weren't thinking straight when to touched that stone, and your friend Pigtails was in the wrong place at the wrong time." Adrien sniffled as he thought about that. Plagg did have a point. He did tell her to leave the school. Why did she stay? Why didn't she go outside? If she had, she wouldn't have gotten hit by any of that rubble. "Look kid, all I'm saying is that it wasn't _all_ your fault. There's some blame to share. So don't go giving it all to yourself," Plagg told him. True, Adrien did do what he did, but Plagg didn't want the poor kid to place that much guilt on himself.

The weight of all that guilt on top of one person will definitely crush them flat.

Adrien sniffled again as he wiped his eyes. "I guess," he muttered reluctantly. He still felt incredibly guilty, but he at least listened to his kwami and considered his words.

"There you go," Plagg smiled, glad his holder was finally calming down a bit. "Now may I _please_ have my cheese now?" he asked as politely as he could. He comforted his upset holder, succeeded in calming him down well enough—it was okay for him to request his well-earned cheese after a transformation. He even said 'please.'

Adrien straighten himself up, as well as his legs, before reaching into his white over shirt and pulled out a piece of camembert and offered it to the hungry cat kwami.

As Plagg feasted on his precious, stinky cheese, Adrien continued to think about what he had said.

True, that akuma did aggravate and taunt him. And Marinette shouldn't have stayed in the courtyard where it was dangerous. But he still felt responsible.

It might not have been _all_ his fault, but he still hurt Marinette.

He should have seen she was still in the courtyard. And he defiantly shouldn't have hit the stone handrail with his powers. It was a stupid, anger-induced move that he didn't mean to do. That cataclysm was meant for the floorboards under Miss Fortune's feet. Instead, he let her 'mean words' get to him, he lost his temper, and he destroyed the archway.

The sound of a siren, which Adrien had been hearing off in the distance even since he left the courtyard, was getting louder and louder and longer he sat there. Until finally, it was so loud, he was sure he was just around the corner from it.

The ambulance… Marinette!

Adrien stood up, hastily wiping his eyes with the backs of his wrists, trying to dry away his tears as fast as he could. Plagg, who had just shoved the last bit of his cheese into his mouth, found himself being grabbed by his holder and shoved back into his over-shirt.

His cheeks dry but still very red, Adrien ran down the sidewalk to the front of the school. When he rounded the corner, he stopped at the sight of the ambulance parked on the road. All his classmates and friends were standing in front of the school's steps, watching two paramedics look over Marinette, who they had laid out on a stretcher.

Standing just behind one of the paramedics were Tom and Sabine Dupain-Cheng. The two parents held each other, looking more worried than he or his friends.

And he didn't blame them. Their only daughter was hurt badly. How badly? No one knew for sure yet.

The next thing he knew, the blonde model was running over to his best friend, who stood with his arm around his crying girlfriend at the closest end of the group.

"Dude, where did you go?" Nino asked his best bud when he noticed him.

"I was- uhh…" Adrien tried to explain but his attention was too focused on the paramedics attending to Marinette in front of them to come up with an excuse. "W-what happened?" he asked. Whatever his future excuse for not being there during the attack was, he wasn't supposed to already know what had happened to their sweet, bluenette friend.

"Marinette's hurt," Alya said, her voice shaky. Both Nino and Adrien looked over to the auburn-haired girl with tear stains all over her cheeks. "Chat Noir was fighting an akuma and the archway above the school's entrance collapsed," she said, not taking her eyes off her best friend on the stretcher before them. "I-I saw her still standing in the courtyard. I was yelling at her to come out with the rest of us, but… she just wouldn't." Fresh tears erupted from her eyes as she finished her sentence. Nino pulled her in for a comforting side-hug as she covered her face in her hands, his own eyes starting to mist over.

Adrien continued to watch as the paramedics finally started lifting Marinette into the ambulance.

Why Marinette? Why didn't you just save yourself and stay away?

After getting their patient settled in the back, Tom started to climb in after them. Just before Sabine could climb in too, she turned around and looked back at all of her daughter's classmates.

"You're all welcome to come to the hospital and visit Marinette," she said to them. She knew they were all worried about her little girl. Plus, it would help make Marinette feel better if she knew all her friends were there too.

There were a few 'thanks yous' from everyone before the kind woman gave them all a sad smile and climbed into the ambulance too. When she was in, one of the paramedics closed the doors and they drove off.

"Come on guys, we should get going," Nathanael said to the group of his classmates.

"Actually," Max said, taking out his calculator. "at the accelerated speed the ambulance is traveling, it should arrive at its destination in approximately 7.34 minutes. Also including the time for the doctors to evaluate her condition and check her into a room, we probably won't be able to know anything until-" Max stopped talking when he noticed all his friends worried looks and figured his time calculations weren't helping. "Then again, the sooner the better," the young genius said as he put his device away.

It didn't matter if they got there early. They'd all rather be waiting in the waiting room then anywhere else.

Everyone muttered in agreement before talking about how they were going to get there and who could carpool with who.

It was still lunch break, but they all knew they couldn't resume classes until the akuma was defeated and the school's entrance was fixed. They were all worried, so they all might as well head to the hospital now and wait to hear on Marinette's condition.

As Nino and Alya turned to Adrien, the blonde model pulled out his phone. "I'll call my driver. He can drive us to the hospital," Adrien said to the couple. But paused to look at everyone else behind them. "Sorry you all can't fit in his car," he apologized to the rest of his class.

He was the one who insisted on not being driven around in a limo anymore. But now he wished more than even that the Gorilla was still driving it.

"It's okay Adrien, we'll all meet you there," Mylene said, Ivan's big arm around her and his hand comfortingly on her shoulder. Adrien smiled sadly to her and the others as he dialed up his driver and asked him to come back to the school.

As Nino started leading his upset girlfriend over to the side road, where Adrien was heading, Alya turned her head back to her group of girl friends before stopping. "Actually guys, I'm gonna go with them," Alya said as she lightly pulled back from Nino. The young DJ stopped and listen as she turned to talk to them. "We should all go pick out a nice 'get well soon' bouquet for Marinette," she told the four other girls.

The girls all looked at each other and exchanged nods. "That's a great idea," Alix agreed.

"She'll love that," Rose added, excited on picking out a nice flower arrangement to cheer Marinette up.

Nino placed a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder, making her turn back to him. "You go ahead, babe. I'll ride with Adrien and we'll meet you there," he told her before pressing his lips to her forehead. When he pulled away, Alya gave him a tight hug before walking back over to the girls.

Adrien watched the sweet exchange between the two love-birds as the Gorilla pulled up on the road between the school and the Dupain-Cheng bakery behind him. Adrien opened the door and climbed in, Nino right behind him. When they were buckled in, the Gorilla pulled away from the school and started driving away.

"Uh, isn't the hospital back that way?" Nino said, pointing his thumb back behind them.

Adrien kept his head tilted down, his eyes on his lap, as he looked through his phone for a certain number. "Yeah, but before we go to the hospital, Nino, I want to get Marinette a bouquet too," he said, his voice low and sad.

It was obvious to Nino that his best bud was upset and worried, and he didn't blame him. He was upset and worried too. "Oh, well okay," Nino said. If Adrien wanted to quickly stop by the florist and get Marinette some flowers too, that would be great. She would appreciate another bouquet. "I think the one the girls are going to is just a few blocks-"

"No man," Adrien stopped him without looking away from his phone. "The florist I'm thinking of is a little farther away. I'm calling in an order for one now so it'll be ready by the time we get there."

"Order?" Nino asked. Adrien was planning on ordering a costume-made bouquet? And he could only assume this different florist was more high-end and expensive. "You don't want to just pick out a per-made one?"

"Absolutely not," Adrien replied, very sure of his decision. He still felt awful for what he had done to her and wanted to give her the most he could. Even if it hadn't been his fault, Marinette deserved far better than a per-made bouquet. She only deserved the best. After finally finding the number for the florist he wanted, he started dialing. "This one needs to be special."

* * *

**Next chapter is more of the aftermath.**

**What I have planned for the rest of the story after that is mostly just thoughts and notes to create Marichat cuteness (so I'll be basically winging it then). **

**Bye!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello my quarantine buddies! **

**If u are excused from work (like me) and are spending your days at home, I hope u are reading and writing as much as u can. **

**I know it's been a while and I apologize. I at least wanted to have more of this ready by next May (MariChat May, of course) but when I realized how close this chapter was to completion, I figured I owed it to u guys to just post it now. **

* * *

The waiting room at the hospital was filled with one huge party consisting of the friends/classmates and family of Marinette Dupain-Cheng. All worriedly passing, tapping their fingers or bouncing their legs if they were sitting.

The sweet bluenette girl they all loved dearly was still being checked out by the doctor and settled into a room. They all knew they probably wouldn't all get to see her but they all wanted to know how she was doing as soon as humanly possible. Plus, some of them came baring gifts.

The girls and Nathanael had stopped by the same flower shop to pick up bouquets for their dear friend.

Nathanael had picked out a small arrangement with a couple of sunflowers, some mini-pink lilies, and a few white daisies. It was simple but pretty. It was all the young artist could afford with the money he had on him. He didn't want to delay arriving at the hospital anymore by going home to get more money for something bigger and fancier. He knew Marinette would love it no matter what.

Alya and the rest of the girls all pooled the money they had on them and bought Marinette a bigger but modest sized bouquet. They knew Marinette loved pink, so they got her a lovely arrangement of pink carnations, more mini-pink lilies, and some white roses. And in the middle of it was a single but very large pink lotus flower—like her codename.

Juleka had texted her brother about what had happened and arrived not long after her and the rest of the class. On his way, Luka had picked up a 'get well soon' card and let everyone signed it while they waited.

It had been over an hour since the ambulance brought Marinette in and there was still no news from anyone.

Tom and Sabine were seated on one of the couches, holding each other. Alya was pacing the floor just to the left of the worried parents. Their other classmates were scattered throughout the room, doing what they could to pass the time.

Sabrina was among them. Chloe had left the school before the akuma attack. She had a special lunch planned with her mother and had left immediately, eager to finally spend some one-on-one time with her. Sabrina had texted her what had happened as well, Chloe's only reply was 'she'll be fine,' which was sort of a sign that she cared and was confident Marinette would be alright. And, coming from her, that was better than nothing.

Alya raised her phone to text Nino again, to ask if he and Adrien were coming anytime soon. Nino texted her earlier that they were picking up another bouquet for Marinette, but she didn't think it would be taking them this long. Before she could start typing, however, the doors to the waiting room opened and out stepped the two boys.

All eyes in the room snapped to the pair of best friends as they stood holding the doors open.

"There you guys are," Alya said as she walked over to them. "What took you so-?"

The young reporter fell silent, her other classmates coming up behind her—also speechless—as they all watched what came walking through the doors to the waiting room.

Right behind the boys—who they were holding the doors open for—was what looked like at first, the biggest and pinkest flower arrangement any of them had ever seen. When the doors closed behind the enormous bouquet, they could barely make out the large hands holding the glass vase underneath it, as well as the lower body of who they assumed had to be Adrien's bodyguard.

The arrangement consisted of many pink roses, large pink lilies, mini-pink lilies, pink peonies, pink carnations, huge pink gerbera daisies, pink chrysanthemums, and a few tuffs of baby's breath throughout the bunch. Plus, a pink ribbon with white poka-dots was wrapped around the glass vase in a fancy bow.

As the large man holding the bouquet big enough to hide the entire upper half of his body stood there with the two boys, the rest of their friends crowded around them. Tom and Sabine stayed on the couch but could see the boys and the extravagant arrangement from where they sat.

"Oh, it's so pretty!" Rose squealed. If there was one person in their class who loved pink more than Marinette, it was Rose.

"Oh, it's so huge!" Alix said, not believing a bouquet could be made that big. "What'd you do? Ask them for every pink flower they had in stock?"

"I just asked them to make a bouquet using at least every type of pink flower they used. As big as they could make it," Adrien replied, still crestfallen. "But this didn't deplete _every_ pink flower they had." Although, he was fairly sure they were at least short on pink flowers now and would need to order more soon.

"Still, that thing is huge," Kim added as he looked the arrangement up and down, sizing it up, thinking he could bet his friends he could lift it. He knew his friends would have doubts and honestly, he sort of did too. Adrien's bodyguard didn't seem to be struggling at all with it, but that guy was as strong as a gorilla.

"How did that even fit in your bodyguard's car?" Alya asked.

"It barely did," said Nino. "Adrien had to sit up front while I was in back, being smothered by this big pink monster," he whined, gesturing to the bouquet in the Gorilla's solid grasp.

"Well I think Marinette will love it for sure," Mylene said sweetly. Ivan stood beside her, holding the smaller flower arrangement the girls had bought together.

Adrien was startled back into a slight panic at the mention of her name. "Any news on her?" he asked worriedly.

"Not yet," Juleka uttered, crossing her arms. On one side of her, Rose wrapped her arm around her middle. On her other, her brother placed a gently hand on her shoulder before stepping up to the blonde model and the DJ.

"Here guys," Luka greeted them before holding a colorful card that said 'Get Well Soon' on the cover out to them, along with five different colored pens; black, green, blue, pink, and red. "I brought a card for Marinette. Everyone else has signed it," he told them, inviting them to sign it too.

Nino took the card and pens first, signed his name with a little well-wish, and added a drawing of a music note before handing it to Adrien. He and Adrien sat down in some empty chairs by the door, his bodyguard standing close by. As this was happening, everyone else went back to sitting or standing where they were before, still waiting for news.

Opening the card, Adrien looked it over. Luka had gotten a card that was completely blank on both pages on the inside so there was plenty of room for everyone to write their names and their own well-wishes. Some even added little doddles.

Next to Nathanael's signature was a tiny sketch of Marinette's head in pink ink. It was a rough sketch and a little cartoony, but it was still very good and adorable.

After writing his name—he took his time writing out his name and not quickly scribbling it like he did with autographs. This was a signature from a friend to a friend, not a celebrity to a fan—then paused again, thinking about what else he could write.

The first thing that popped into his head was 'I'm sorry' then maybe a quick doddle of a sad cat face. But both those ideas wouldn't be smart.

This was Adrien signing the card, and both those things were too Chat Noir.

Finally, he came up with something sweet but wasn't going to reveal his identity, and wrote it down right below his name.

When he was done, Adrien got up and handed the card and pens back to Luka. Just as the young musician pocketed the colored pens, the other doors to the waiting room opened to a doctor in scrubs and a long white coat.

"Is the Dupain-Cheng party here?" he said to the room after looking down at his clipboard.

Everyone in the room immediately snapped to attention. Tom and Sabine went over first and the kids let them through, watching and listening from behind and beside them. "We're Marinette's parents," Tom said.

"How's our little girl, doctor?" Sabine asked the doctor worriedly.

"Well, the rubble that hit her in the head did a bit more damage than we first thought," the doctor said. That didn't sound good to Adrien or anyone else in the room. "We did a CT scan to determine the extent of her injury and we found a fracture on her skull."

The whole room gasped.

"Marinette has a skull fracture?!" Alya exclaimed. Nino grabbed her arms to stop her from wigging out too much. It took everything in Adrien to not do the same.

"A _simple_ skull fracture," he reassured the frantic parents and crowd of young people before explaining further. "Her skull has a small crack but the break wasn't so severe that it caused the bone to cut into her brain or its covering. That's why it's also called a _closed_ skull fracture, because the skin hasn't been broken. There was no bleeding or other damage to the surrounding tissue."

"So, she's gonna be okay?" Luka asked.

"Yes." This made everyone sigh in relief, some even shed a few tears. "She also needed three stitches for the cut on her right temporal lobe, but other than that, just a few small bruises and some scratches."

Adrien leaned down, propping himself up with his hands on his knees. He too felt like crying for joy but held it in.

She was gonna be okay.

Marinette was gonna be okay.

"Can we see her?" Sabine asked the doctor.

"She's still asleep, but you can go in."

"What about us?" Alya asked; sort of to the doctor but also to her best friend's parents.

"We have presents," Nathanael said, holding his small flower arrangement for them to see. They all wanted to deliver their gifts to their dear friend but they also wanted to see her.

Adrien really wanted to see her too. But was sort of afraid that if he saw her unconscious on a hospital bed, all bandaged and unmoving, his will to hold his emotions in would break and he would break down sobbing apologizes to her in front of his friends. And again; that would be too revealing to his identity as the 'hero' that put her there.

"Sorry, family only for now," the doctor said apologetically to the group of worried children.

"We'll just take those in for you and when Marinette wakes up, we'll let her know who they're from," Sabine told them, taking Nathanael's arrangement from him, as well as the card from Luka. Tom took the girl's bouquet from Ivan.

"Uh, what about-" Nino gestured behind him to the ginormous pink arrangement. They couldn't carry that in with the other gifts. The doctor himself wasn't sure any of their strongest male nurses could lift that thing.

"Oh. Well, I suppose he could carry that in himself," the doctor said. "As long as the parents are okay with him stepping in for just a second," he checked with the parents.

"It's fine," Tom smiled, giving a reassuring nod to the much larger man. The Gorilla walked over to the parents and stood with them.

"Can we visit her after she wakes up?" Max asked.

"Well that depends on how she is after she wakes up," the doctor said to the kids before turning to the parents. "But we'll let you know when she can receive other visitors."

"We'll call you all when she's awake. But I don't think we have all of your numbers," Sabine said to her daughter's classmates.

"I have all their numbers," Alya spoke up. "How about you just call me when she's awake and then I'll send a mass text to everyone here and let them know," she suggested. She knew Sabine at least had her number.

Sabine and Tom smiled. "Perfect. Thank you, Alya," the bluenette woman thanked her.

"For now, I think you kids should all go home," Tom suggested to the group.

Slowly, the whole class started to leave the waiting room. Adrien wanted to leave too. He was both physically and emotionally exhausted and just wanted to go home and collapse on his bed, then maybe shed more tears he was still holding in. But he couldn't yet. His bodyguard still had to bring the bouquet into Marinette's room.

The Gorilla looked back at him. "I'll just wait here for you," Adrien told him. The Gorilla nodded before following Tom, Sabine, and the doctor through the doors to the hallway of patient rooms.

Adrien sat down on a couch while he waited for his bodyguard to come back. He sat there, looking down at the floor where his feet were, not paying anything else in the room attention. A few seconds later, he felt someone sit on the couch cushion beside him. The blonde model looked to his right and saw that it was Nino. Giving the rest of the room a quick look, he saw that everyone else had left.

"Dude, you okay?" the DJ asked his best bud, placing a concerned hand on his shoulder.

"I just-" Adrien uttered. Still trying not to break down again. "I was so worried."

"I know. We all were. But you heard the doctor, she's gonna be fine," he squeezed his hand on his buddy's shoulder a bit tighter, trying to be more reassuring. Adrien turned his head and gave his friend a small smile, but he could tell it was obviously forced. He couldn't even manage a fake, model smile he had perfected a long time ago. Nino knew Adrien was upset. He himself was upset. As well as Alya and the rest of their class, but there was something about Adrien's vibe that said something deeper to him than just worry. "Come on man, what's wrong? Do you like, feel guilty or something?"

This startled Adrien. Why would Nino ask him that? Unless he knew he was the one who hurt Marinette. Unless he knew he was Chat Noir.

"Guilty? W-what do you mean?" Adrien stuttered out nervously.

Nino shrugged. "I don't know. Guilty that you weren't there with us when we found Marinette in the courtyard with Chat Noir?" he replied. Adrien sighed through his nose, but not so loud for the DJ beside him to notice it was much deeper. Nino hadn't figured out anything.

He had told Nino in the car that he had been in the locker room getting his bag and hid in there during the akuma attack, then he climbed out a window and ran to the front of the school just as the paramedics were looking over Marinette.

"I…guess," Adrien muttered. That was a lie. He knew he felt guilty, but it was a good enough excuse for _Adrien's_ behavior.

"It's okay, man," Nino told him. "She'll be awake before we know it, and then we can all come back and visit her." Hearing this made Adrien smile at him in agreement, but this time, it was a more genuine grin. "You want me to wait with you?"

"Don't you want a ride home?"

"Alya and the girls are waiting in the lobby for me. I was gonna go home with them after I made sure you were okay."

Adrien appreciated the gesture—Nino was such a thoughtful friend—but he wanted a little time alone before his bodyguard came back. Then he'd get all the alone time he wanted when he got back to his room. "Oh. Then yeah, go on ahead. I'll text you later," he told him.

Nino smiled, they bumped fists, then he stood up. "See ya bro," he waved before leaving the waiting room.

When he was alone, Adrien leaned back and started thinking about what just happened and where he goes on from there.

He had to come back here when Marinette woke up to see for himself that she was okay. But, on another hand, he didn't think he was strong enough to face her and not break down with apologies for what he did to her. And that was basically the same as him admitting to a dozen people he was Chat Noir.

The blonde model sat up as the realization hit him.

Adrien couldn't appear to be as guilty as Chat Noir was supposed to be. Adrien wasn't the one who hurt her, Chat Noir was. It would look suspicious if he tried apologizing to her as Adrien, or did anything for her that showed his deep, heartbreaking guilt for what he'd done.

He shouldn't be trying to make it up to Marinette as himself at all. He needs to do it as Chat Noir. Chat Noir was the one who should be feeling guilty and trying to make it up to Marinette, not Adrien.

Adrien felt guilty for what he did—accident or not—but Adrien couldn't be the one giving Marinette expensive gifts—or at least, anymore. As long as he didn't do anymore big gestures like the bouquet, he doesn't think anyone will be suspicious.

Besides, the last thing he wanted to do was do what his father usually does and try to solve all his problems with money. The best money could buy wasn't going to pay off the guilt he felt for hurting Marinette.

He'll just have to pass the bouquet off as him being a concerned friend but he admits he might have gone a bit overboard. This was the first time any of his friends have been injured like this.

And with God as his witness, it would be the last.

Because Chat Noir was going to make sure nothing ever hurt Marinette like this ever again. He was going to find some other way of making it up to her if it was the last thing he did.

* * *

**I have more ideas about where this story goes from here so don't u guys worry about that. **

**I'll be sure to have more of this ready by next May (if not sooner). **

**Thank goodness for fanfiction to keep me occupied this past week of quarantining in my house. **

**Be smart and stay healthy people. This is not to be taken lightly.**

**See ya ;)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Happy MariChat May my quarantine companions!**

**I've been quarantined for a little over 2 mouths now, which is also roughly how long it's been since I last updated this. But this chapter is a bit longer, so I hope that it satisfying. **

* * *

Everything was fuzzy and dark when Marinette began to regain consciousness. It didn't feel the same as waking up in the morning. For one thing, she felt way too disoriented and her head hurt. Plus, she did not feel well rested.

Her bluebell eyes slowly opened to an unfamiliar room. There was a big window with light blue curtains to her right. There was a lot of light coming through, making her head feel worse. Her slightly blurry gaze then turned to her left, where she noticed something big and pink. Her mind was too hazy to try and process what it was. The next thing her eyes caught notice of was the familiar silhouette of a person sitting in a chair in the left corner, just a few feet from where she was lying down.

"M…Mom?" she was able to utter.

At hearing her daughter's groggy voice, Sabine bolted out of her chair, dropping her book without marking her page. "Marinette!" she exclaimed, rushing to her bed side. "Oh sweetheart, you're awake! How do you feel?" Sabine leaned down and gently took her little girl's hand.

"Dizzy," Marinette replied, blinking a few times to try and clear her vision. "Where am I?"

"You're in the hospital, dear. Do you remember what happened?"

Marinette took a minute, thinking of the last thing she could remember before waking up. "I was…at school. Chat Noir was fighting an akuma…some falling rocks…"

"You were standing under the archway above the school entrance when it collapsed. Chat Noir dug you out of the rubble, then your classmates called an ambulance and brought you outside," Sabine explained.

This was a lot for Marinette's mind to absorb. She remembered Alya talking to her from the school's entrance but she wouldn't leave, then rocks were falling around her then everything went black.

Chat had dug her out? He was supposed to be stopping the akuma. Was he still fighting her? Her stomach sank when she thought of him fighting alone without his partner.

Still, it was very heroic of him to save her.

"Are they here?" She was mostly asking about her friends from school, but also Chat. Was he there too to see if she was okay?

"No. We sent them home. The doctor said you can't have visitors yet. But don't worry, I promised Alya I would let her know the minute you woke up and she would let the rest of your class know."

"Where's papa?"

"He had to go back to the bakery, but we wanted at least one of us to stay with you at least until you woke up. We can call him after we talk to the doctor." With that, Sabine stood up and gently kissed her daughter's cheek. "Sit tight. I'll be right back," she said before turning around and walking out of the room.

"Tikki?" Marinette called for her kwami when she was sure she was alone.

Marinette knew she was no longer in the clothes she had on that morning and wearing a blue hospital gown, so the belongings she had on during her accident—including her little purse—were in a closet on the opposite wall from her bed. At hearing her name, the tiny red kwami fazed through the purse and closet door fast as a flash. "Marinette!" she exclaimed, latching her stubby arms to her holder's cheek. "You're okay!"

As happy as Marinette was to see her little friend, they still had a problem to discuss and it was better they talked about it now while they had some alone time. She wasn't sure how much of that she would have while she was there. "The akuma?"

Tikki reluctantly let go of her cheek and just floated in front of her face. "Miss Fortune is still out there. Paris needs Ladybug to purify the akuma, but you can't go out in your current condition."

Marinette nodded. She didn't exactly know her condition yet, but she did know she was in no shape to be fighting anything. Plus, there was no way she'd be able to sneak out of the hospital even if she thought she felt fine. "Someone else is gonna have to wear the Ladybug earrings for this one," she said, already knowing who that was. "Tikki, I need my phone."

The ladybug kwami flew back into the closet and opened the door to bring the cell phone out. When it was in her owner's hands, Marinette looked through her contacts list and pressed the turtle icon.

"Hello?" the voice on the other end asked when the ringing stopped.

"Master Fu?"

"Marinette. Are you alright?"

"I'm in the hospital. There's an akuma and I can't transform and go after it." She hated how helpless she sounded, but it was true and had to be said.

"I know. I saw what happened at your school on the news," the old guardian replied.

"I need you to come here. Paris is gonna need Mister Bug again," she told him. Even if Chat Noir came to visit her, she couldn't exactly give the earrings to him. He wasn't supposed to know who she was. She needed Master Fu as her middle man.

"I am on my way to the hospital right now. I'll be there in a few minutes." Of course, Master Fu would think ahead and come to see her. Not just to visit and check on her but to talk about how to stop the akuma with her out of commission. Hopefully, he would arrive after the doctor talked with her and she could convince her mom to go home for the night. Then he could sneak in without too much suspicion.

After they hung up, Tikki put Marinette's phone back where she had found it and returned to her owner's side. She too was very worried about her. And—unlike her friends and family—she couldn't show herself during all the chaos and check on her. She had to stay in her little purse through it all and it was torture.

With Tikki cuddled against her shoulder—she could easily hide when her mom came back with the doctor—Marinette let her eyes wonder her room. She noticed there were two bouquets on the window sill to her right. Both were beautiful and made the bluenette smile. She knew they must be from her friends. Then her eyes went back to the giant pink thing she remembered seeing when she first woke up but couldn't identify on the other side of the room.

That too was a bouquet. A great, big, pink bouquet that looked like it could be a small tree.

Who the hell got her that? It must have cost a fortune. It was beautiful and in her favorite color, but it was simply too much.

She would have to ask her mom about it later.

Marinette then spotted something on the hospital table beside her bed out of the corner of her eye. It was a card, standing up, and it said 'Get Well Soon' on the front.

She smiled again as she reached out and grabbed it. Just as she suspected, her entire class had signed it—including Luka. Everyone had singed their names, drawn a little picture and/or written a sweet little message for her. Seeing each one made Marinette giggle with adoration. Until she was stunned, upon catching the sight of a section of the card occupied by the penmanship of a certain crush of hers.

_Adrien A._

_To our everyday Ladybug_

_Wishing you a 'miraculous' recovery _

And under that was a red circle with five black spots. It was rough but she could tell it was supposed to be a ladybug symbol.

At first she was touched and was about to swoon, but then she snapped to frantic because she thought he called her that because he somehow found out her secret identity. It only took another minute for her to remember that he had called her that a while back at her Heroes Day picnic and she relaxed.

Marinette let herself swoon, thinking about how sweet and amazing he was. Then her thoughts when back to the huge pink bouquet in her room. The two most well-off people in her class were Adrien and Chloe. Chloe definitely wouldn't spend money on her like that. She didn't even find her signature in the card. Adrien on the other hand… it was possible.

He was her friend and he was the type to give gifts to a sick friend—not that she had seen him do it before. But she wasn't going to get her hopes up and assume it was from him. Maybe they were from Jagged Stone. They were tight and he could afford a bouquet that insane.

Curiously, Marinette reached her hand up to her forehead and felt a bandage off to the right. She had a vague memory of something hard hitting her there. Which made her wonder why the archway collapsed in the first place.

She knew Chat Noir had been fighting Miss Fortune up near there. The akuma's power was bad luck, maybe she made the structure unstable and crumbly to use against Chat Noir. Or…

Was it Chat who did it?

With her head still hurting, Marinette didn't want to think about it too hard. For now, she moved that to the back of her mind. She'd ask someone for the full story later.

Marinette leaned back into the hospital bed, making herself comfortable, re-reading the card as she waited patiently for her mom to come back with the doctor. She was anxious to understand her condition.

* * *

Because of the damage to the school and the fact that there was still an akuma on the loose, classes were cancelled until further notice. So all students and faculty were ordered to stay at home for their own safety.

As soon as he got home, Adrien only stayed in his room for about ten minutes—and that whole time, he was transformed and trying to call Ladybug, but she didn't pick up once. Then he decided to just head out and try to find Miss Fortune himself, hoping Ladybug was already on the scene and wasn't picking up because she was too busy fighting.

But he was wrong. By the time he found Miss Fortune, his lady was nowhere to be found. The bad luck girl even mentioned she hadn't even seen a glimpse of the spotted heroine all day.

This had Chat worried. She wasn't at the fight earlier at the school either. Where the hell was she? Was she okay? Did Miss Fortune get to her before she even had the chance to transform?

He hated not knowing. It was times like these he wished they knew each other's identities so he could know where to look for her if she was late or held up for some reason. He could help her if he knew. He wanted to help her. Not just while they were suited up.

Chat hated to fight without his partner, but he had to. It was his duty as a hero of Paris. He just hoped she showed up before anything really bad happened. Just like back at the school, he knew he couldn't purify the akuma without his lady, so he knew he couldn't just destroy her belt yet. He at least hoped to learn more about how her powers worked so he could learn how to defeat her later. Or, if he was lucky enough, maybe take her belt from her.

The akumas goal was pretty basic; she wanted to jinx anyone she could find with bad luck and ruin their day. To do this, she had been throwing the charms on her belt at people.

When she saw someone just walking along down a sidewalk, she threw her charm that looked like a ladder at them and _POOF!_ There was a ladder right in front of them. And as soon as the person walked under it, _BAM!_ They tripped, got slashed by a puddle from a car driving passed, or a passing pigeon left a white splatter on their shoulder.

Or when she saw someone sitting at a table in front of a café, she threw her tilted salt shaker charm at them and again, a salt shaker just appeared on the table. Then, when the person reached out to grab their drink from off the table, they'd hit the salt shaker and knock it over. Then bad things would instantly start happening to them too; they accidently spill their drink on themselves, they fall out of their chair, or a flock of pigeons would come out of nowhere and attacked them for their pastry.

Her black cat charm made a real, living black cat. And every time it walked by an unexpecting bystander, bad things happened to them too out of nowhere.

And then there were the three-leaf clover and upside-down horseshoe charms. They didn't create the real thing like the others did. When she threw one of those at someone, it landed on their body and just stuck there. No amount of pulling could get it off.

It was bad luck to simply possess either of these items. This kind of charm wasn't like a ladder, which you had to walk under.

Or a salt shaker, which you had to tip over.

Or a mirror, which you had to break.

Or a black cat, which had to cross your path.

All Miss Fortune had to do was get it on someone and they were jinxed. And the worst part was, it couldn't be gotten rid of so easily.

And every time she ruined someone's day, Miss Fortune just laughed her head off like it was the grandest thing in the world.

Chat Noir jumped in to stop her mischievous meddling, but couldn't get close enough to take her belt. He didn't want to get hit with any of her charms. Then he would have even worse luck in defeating her. At the very least, he could keep the akuma's attention on him and off innocent people so they could get away.

The feline hero got in close, trying to strike her with his staff. Miss Fortune redirected his blows and threw her own punches and kicks. When he went in to strike her again, she managed to grab a hold of his staff with both her hands. The two faced off, pushing against each other.

"You know what, kitty," Miss Fortune said to him, teeth grit in a smile. Chat was angered further. No one but his lady was allowed to call him 'kitty.' "I think we got off on the wrong foot. Maybe we just need to take a moment to _reflect!_" Before Chat knew what was going on, Miss Fortune pushed herself away from Chat, then quickly pulled her broken mirror charm from her belt and threw it at his feet. A second later, in a puff of smoke, Chat looked down and saw he was standing on a giant mirror. It stretched all the way to both sides of the road and just as far down the road in front of him and behind him. He prepared himself to jump away, but stopped when he heard the villain warn him. "You move even an inch and that glass will crack," she hollered to him from the top on a nearby lamp post.

Chat huffed in frustration. If he broke the mirror, he was jinxed. He had no choice but to stand still.

Miss Fortune jumped from the lamp post, diving in to grab at him. Chat ducked, trying really hard not to add more pressure to his feet. She missed him and landed on the road, just beyond the edge of the mirror.

"You can't just grab my ring pouncing at me like that," Chat hollered to her a few yards away.

"And you can't stand there forever," she hollered back. Realization dawned on the feline hero. She wasn't trying to take his miraculous. She was just trying to get him to move so he'll break the mirror. "Sooner or later, you'll move and then taking your miraculous will be easy pickins,'" Miss Fortune giggled wickedly.

"Right, breaking a mirror is bad luck. You know what else is bad luck? _Crossing_ a black cat," Chat snarled back at her. He of course meant 'crossing' not just in the sense of merely encountering, but in the sense of 'rubbing the wrong way.' He was still very angry with her for earlier and she was definitely continuing it.

Miss Fortune merely shrugged. "True. But I'll be fine," she waved off before her smile turned wicked again. "As soon as Ladybug gets here, she'll become _my_ good luck charm."

Her good luck charm?

_Her_ good luck charm?!

"LIKE HELL!" Chat screamed. How dare she think she can use his lady as some personal relic to undo any sort of bad juju on her.

Before thinking through what he was doing, Chat extended his baton out, aiming for the akuma's face. Unfortunately, she was anticipating that and stepped swiftly to the left, missing her head by barely an inch.

"Bad move, kitty cat," she said smugly before grabbing hold of his baton. She started jerking it in all directions, giggling madly. With the other end still in his hands, Chat was jerked with it.

Chat was pulled and pushed back and forth, dipping down forward and back. He looked rather ridiculous, trying to keep his balance without moving his feet. Sadly, even letting go of the stick completely was another bad move. With the extra-long stick in her hands, Miss Fortune jabbed Chat straight in the chest, pushing him down unto the mirror, flat on his rear.

True to her warning, the mirror's surface cracked severely under the not-so-harsh pressure of Chat Noir's butt.

"And… that's seven years bad luck," Miss Fortune chimed just before the mirror disappeared in a quick puff of smoke, its purpose fulfilled. The damage done.

Confident there was no possible way she could lose now, Miss Fortune dropped the silver baton and began her new barrage of attacks.

This fight was even worse than the previous ones from that same day.

Chat kept bumping into things and falling while trying to dodge Miss Fortune's strikes. When he activated his baton to extend it, it sprung up and hit him right under the chin. Then he would drop it a lot while trying to twirl it to defend himself. He did manage a flawless back-flip to evade her but it ended up with him crash landing in a cluster of garbage cans.

It was humiliating and dangerous. Yet deep down somewhere inside him, Chat sort of felt this was what he deserved. He messed up his cataclysm and ended up hurting one of his best friends. A sweet, innocent girl who was just in the wrong place at the worst time. It still pained him while trying to fight. Although he felt this was a proper punishment (maybe not harsh enough), getting his miraculous taken from him and handed over to Hawkmoth wasn't acceptable.

He couldn't defeat her properly without Ladybug and her powers, not to mention he was all but useless with his luck so bad. What he needed was a lucky charm. Something to counteract the bad luck on him.

Ladybug was always their good luck charm. With her, they always prevailed. But she was nowhere to be found for the time being. So he would have to make do without her.

He had to make his own luck. Somehow.

Chat looked around, trying to come up with a way to change his luck. His eyes fell on Miss Fortune's belt again as he thought of how he could get it off her when they stopped on her horseshoe charm.

Horseshoes were bad luck when they were upside-down because it trapped the luck in. However, if it were to be turned facing up in a U shape, this meant the luck was being shared, bringing _good_ luck to those who possessed it.

With that knowledge, Chat had an idea. It required perfect timing and positioning, but if it worked, he definitely stood a better chance against this akuma alone.

"What? You're not gonna try to stick me with more bad luck?" Chat taunted as he secured his baton to his back.

"You're a real glutton for punishment. You must feel really bad for what you did to that sweet girl," the akuma said, grabbing the three-leafed clover charm from her belt. "Too bad she didn't have her own lucky charm protecting her _from you_!"

As much as the comment stung, Chat did his best to ignore it, in favor of focusing on his plan. As Chat charged forward, Miss Fortune threw the three-leafed clover, but Chat swerved to the side, missing it completely, then he jumped. With the mangy cat coming at her from above, the akumatized girl finally reached for the horseshoe and threw it.

Chat smirked as he watched the horseshoe coming at him. He had all but a slit second to wait for the perfect moment, but when it came, he was ready.

There in midair, he thrusted his body over, rolling his self just as the charm hit him right in the chest.

Chat landed on the ground, kneeling. Miss Fortune looked down at him, satisfied. She knew her charm had hit its mark and couldn't wait to see it there, stuck to him, making his luck _twice_ as bad.

However, when the feline hero rose back up to his feet, the horseshoe was revealed to be positioned right-side up.

"_What?!_" Miss Fortune shrieked.

Chat looked down at his chest, seeing the first part of his plan had worked. He gave her a wicked grin. "Today must be my lucky day after all."

Putting his baton out again, Chat tried attacking…and it wasn't terrible. He was able to stay up on his feet, use his weapon the way he meant too, and managed to not bump into anything hard and/or smelly.

It felt great, having some luck back, but the blonde black cat didn't let himself get too cocky. He still knew he couldn't just release and purify the akuma yet.

Well, he could still try accomplishing the second part of his plan: getting that belt.

He was certainly feeling lucky enough.

Chat Noir had Miss Fortune chasing him over some rooftops, when he suddenly stopped at the edge of a building. Looking down, he could see a café awning right below him.

Okay. Looks like he was using his old plan from back at the school after all. Except this time, it was going to work and no one was going to get hurt.

Chat looked over his shoulder, making sure Miss Fortune was still coming this way. Then he jumped down from the roof. Not long after, Miss Fortune arrived at the same ledge. She knew she saw the pesky feline jump right there, but when she looked down to the street below, he was nowhere to be seen. Although, she did hear a trash can rattle in an alley on the other side of the road.

The bad luck akuma jumped down to the awning below her and intended to bounce right off that and onto the road, but as soon as her feet made contact with the fabric, it separated from itself right under her and she fell through up to her waist.

Miss Fortune struggled to pull herself up, but barely a second later, she felt her legs being tied together, followed immediately by the feeling of her belt coming off her hips.

"Hey! What the heck is going on!?"

From under the awning, Chat Noir smirked like a Cheshire. There he stood, his black tail belt tied around Miss Fortune's legs—keeping her from kicking him—and her charm-covered belt in his hand. He didn't even need his cataclysm; just a well-placed tear along the awning fabric with his claw.

"A belt for a belt, _Misfortunate_," he chimed before taking off running.

It was almost sunset. He wasn't exactly sure where he was going, he just knew it was better to keep the akuma as far away from her source of power as possible until he found his lady and could finish the job.

Hearing the defeated and trapped girl's outraged cries getting further and further away, Chat looked for a quiet place to think and calculate his next move. He spotted a subway entrance and headed there. Jumping down the stairs, several at a time, Chat reached the tiled floor of the platform, but he didn't stop there. He ran down the tunnel, made several turns, and didn't stop until he reached the sanctity of the sewer.

The feline hero stopped to take a breather, sure he was a good enough distance away.

"Okay. I've got the belt," he said to himself, looking down at the possessed object firmly grasped in his claws. "What do I do now?"

"Adrien."

Chat jumped with a start, not expecting the presence of another person down there with him. And certainly not for them to address him as his civilian self. No one was supposed to know. Except maybe…

Turning his body when he jumped, Chat saw a familiar, short, old Chinese man in a red Hawaiian shirt, looking up at him with a friendly smile.

"M-Master Fu? How-how did you-"

"Perhaps you just got lucky," the old man replied with a wink. Obviously, he had noticed the right-side up horseshoe on the feline's chest. "It's safe to detransform."

"Are you sure? Maybe I shouldn't."

"You're going to need to."

"What do you…" Chat wasn't exactly sure why the guardian would ask him to drop his transformation now. He hadn't even used his cataclysm during the fight. Still, he trusted the old man knew what he was doing. Chat placed the akumatized belt down on the ground next to the sewer wall. "Plagg, claws in," he said, allowing his kwami to fly from his ring and a green light to reveal his secret identity.

"Hello Plagg," Fu greeted the black cat kwami.

"Master Guardian," Plagg greeted him with a respectful blow before turning to his holder. "I want cheese," he said bluntly.

Adrien rolled his eyes, reached into his white shirt and reluctantly handed him a small piece of camembert. As his gluttonous kwami ate, the blonde model turned his attention back to the master. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

The old guardian said nothing as he pulled a small box from his pocket—similar to the one he first found his ring in. Adrien stared at the box for a moment. Why was Master Fu handing him another miraculous? The only miraculous they needed right now was…

Panic overcame the young teen's mind. Adrien hastily took the box in his own hand and lifted the top. A blinding, red beam of light met his eyes. When it subsided, there floated the little red kwami he had met once before.

"Hi Adrien," she greeted him with a smile.

"Tikki!?" he exclaimed. He looked down into the box and, sure enough, there were the earrings that she fused with. "Wh-what's going on? Why do you have these? Where's Ladybug?!" he asked fanatically. If he wasn't worried before about why his lady had not shown up at all so far that day, he certainly was now. First Marinette got a skull fracture because he made a stupid mistake, now there was something wrong with his beloved Bugaboo!?

"Calm yourself, Adrien. Your partner is fine," the master told him. Adrien did calm, but only slightly. He still didn't understand why. "She, unfortunately, could not transform to help you. And before you ask why, know that I can not divulge the specifics to you. But please trust that she is okay and you will see she again soon." While the explanation made sense, it still had him concerned. He could not know the details. Most likely because it had to do with her personal life, which he wasn't supposed to know about. Again, he wished he knew so he won't be left wondering and/or worrying. Even with this information, he was still worried because he didn't know the whole story. But, he couldn't focus on that right now. She was okay. That was the important thing. Maybe she just had a cold or got hit with one of Miss Fortune's jinxes and didn't feel it was safe for her to transform. "Adrien Agreste, you are the only person Ladybug trusts with her miraculous, as I know, you have used it once before. So I ask you to please put on the earrings and become Mister Bug again. Once the job is complete, you will remove the earrings and I will return them to Ladybug," Master Fu explained.

Adrien envied that Master Fu knew who his lady was and he didn't. Guess it was one of the perks of being the Guardian.

"Okay," Adrien nodded.

"Wait," Master Fu said, stopping Adrien before he could take the earrings out of the box. "Before you put the earrings on, I must ask that you take off your ring first."

Adrien glanced down at his right hand quick. "What? I can't."

"I know how you feel about parting with it, but it is dangerous for the ladybug and black cat miraculouses to be wore at the same time," he explained calmly but serious. Even if he didn't activate them at the same time, it was still best that he didn't even have them on.

"He's right kid," Plagg said to his holder. Beside him, Tikki nodded in agreement. "It's alright," he said reassuringly. He didn't like it any more than his owner did, but it was for the best.

Master Fu held out his left hand and flattened his palm out. "Place it right here," he said, gesturing to his palm with his eyes. "It will stay in my open palm, right where you can see it. You can put it back on the moment you remove the earrings," the old man said.

Adrien sighed but nodded again. That was fair. Reluctantly, he pulled his ring off and placed it in the old guardian's waiting hand. Adrien took the earrings out of the box and stuck them on his ears one by one. Although his ears weren't pierced, the miraculous adapted into clip-ons for him.

"Okay, Adrien. Just like last time. Say, 'spots on!' You already have the akumatized object so this should only take a minute," Tikki told him when he had them on.

"Right," he understood. But he couldn't help but ask. "Tikki, is your holder really okay?" Adrien envied Tikki the most. She lived with Ladybug. She knew her like nobody else. He wished he could know her that personally. He wanted to know everything about her.

"She is, don't worry," Tikki reassured him with a smile. "She felt terrible not coming to help, but she was in no condition to be out."

Hearing this only made him more anxious. While he trusted her word that she was okay and not dying or in imminent danger, he still wished he could have seen her himself. Beside himself, Adrien smiled. "Well, then I'm glad she didn't come. I'd rather she be safe than anything else."

"I know. It's good to hear that you care about her so much," Tikki replied, giving him a hug on his cheek. Adrien giggled, feeling her antennas tickling the side of his face. He very rarely got hugs from Plagg—and they were always delivered on his chest or shoulder, and never his cheek. He liked it. It was a nice temporary change.

_If Ladybug and I knew who we were, we could hang out with our kwamis and I could get more cheek hugs from sweet little Tikki_. The blonde model thought to himself as she let go.

Adrien cleared his throat. "Tikki, spots on!" The next moment, Tikki was sucked into the earrings, pink light overtook the teen boy, covering him in a red suit with black poka-dots, complete with a matching mask and magic yoyo wrapped around his waist.

Mister Bug took a moment to look down at himself. Just like last time, different from his black leather cat suit, but still really cool.

"First, use your Lucky Charm," Master Fu instructed.

Mister Bug glanced down at the akumatized belt left on the ground. He knew he needed to free the akuma to purify it, but he should use the Lucky Charm first so he could reset everything afterwards like his lady does. "Of course," he nodded in agreement and pulled out the yoyo. "Lucky Charm!" he exclaimed, throwing the yoyo above him. In a flurry of pink light and ladybugs, a pair of red hedge trimmers with black poka dots fell into his hands. "hedge trimmers?" He didn't exactly need to figure out a use for them, but he had to wonder. Then, almost instantly, it made sense. "Oh…perfect." He couldn't use his cataclysm to destroy the akumatized object. He needed something to cut it with. Mister Bug picked the belt up with one hand. "Master Fu, would you mind?" he said, holding the belt out for him to take.

Before he could grab it, however, a little green blur came out from behind the old guardian. "Allow us, Master," Wayzz offered as he and Plagg grabbed both ends of the belt and held it up.

It wasn't a good idea for a civilian to touch an akumatized object. Miraculous holders were better protected when transformed, but Fu couldn't in his old age. He didn't have any extreme negative emotions for Hawkmoth to exploit, but it was just better the kwamis do it anyway.

With the charm-covered belt out in front of him, Mister Bug held the trimmers in both his hands and clipped the tough material in half. As the two pieces feel to the ground, a dark butterfly fluttered out.

Mister Bug quickly dropped the trimmers and reached for the yoyo again. "No more evil doing for you, little akuma," he said, opening the yoyo. Just as he'd seen his lady do a hundred times before, he swung the yoyo at the butterfly and snatched it out of the air. "Gotcha!" he exclaimed, catching it in his hand. He then pressed the top and released the now white butterfly. "Bye-bye little butterfly," he said happily as he watched it fly away down the sewer tunnel. Hopefully, it'll find a drain or something and make it back to the surface. After putting the yoyo back at his waist, the spotted male hero grabbed the trimmers from off the ground. "Miraculous Mister Bug!" he shouted as he threw them up above him, releasing a swarm of ladybugs that flew all around them.

The ladybugs made their way outside, fixing everything that needed it from the battle. The damage to the school was repaired, everyone who was jinxed was back to normal with their luck, Miss Fortune was brought safely down from the awning and turned back into her original self; hopefully a little wiser for the ware to not read too much into superstitions.

Back in the sewer, Mister Bug watched Miss Fortune's charm belt turn into an ordinary belt, back in one piece, covered with an adorable four-leaf clover pattern. "I think it worked," he concluded. "Tikki, spots off."

In a flash of pink light, Mister Bug turned back into Adrien. Tikki flew out of the earrings and landed in his hands.

"You were great, Adrien," Tikki said with a tired smile before rubbing her belly.

"Are you hungry? Sorry, Plagg already ate all the cheese I had on me," he apologized, feeling bad he had no food to offer her.

"It's okay, Adrien," Master Fu said. Adrien raised his attention to him and saw he was holding a chocolate chip cookie. "I have it covered." The old guardian handed the sweet treat to the sweet, hungry kwami, who immediately started eating it.

As Tikki ate, Adrien removed the earrings and placed them back in the box. He then grabbed his beloved silver ring from Fu's still flat palm and replaced it with the earring box. Adrien slipped the ring back on with much joy. Plagg flew back over to his holder.

"Well," Adrien said. "Chat Noir should probably go find that girl, make sure she's okay, and give her back her belt. Plagg, claws out!" Green light transformed the blonde model back into his true super hero persona, complete with his black belt tail back where it belonged. Chat Noir reached down and picked the girl's belt back up.

"You did well, Adrien," Master Fu congratulated him with a proud smile. "Ladybug will be proud to hear how well you did on your own today." And with that, Master Fu put the small box in his pocket, turned around, and started walking down the sewer tunnel.

Chat said nothing as he watched the old guardian walk away. Crestfallen.

"Not when she finds out what I did to Marinette," he uttered to himself.

He looked down in shame for a minute, thinking back to earlier. Images of Marinette laying on the ground, surrounded by rubble, bleeding from her head flashed back into his mind. Tears began to form behind his eye lids. But he did his best to shake them off. He still needed to go back and check on the akuma victim. Belt in hand, Chat turned tail and ran back the way he came.

By the time Adrien arrived back to his room, it was late and he was exhausted. Both physically and emotionally. He had to get some sleep. The school was repaired so classes would resume tomorrow. As he curled up in bed and tried to fall asleep, his brain continued to wander back to Marinette.

She was safe, resting and recovering in a hospital. The doctor said she was going to be fine. Despite reminding himself of this, Adrien couldn't relax. Unable to rest his racing mind, he turned onto his back and grabbed his phone off his nightstand. He knew he must have missed some texts or calls while being transformed for most of the day. Scrolling through his text meeages from the past few hours, he found one from Alya, sent almost four hours ago.

_Marinette is awake_ it said.

Adrien shot up from his bed, sitting right up as he looked over the three worded message several more times.

_Marinette is awake_.

She was awake.

A soft sob escaped Adrien's throat. The tears he had been holding back finally came out, but they were happy this time. Relieved. Then ever so quickly, his guilt came crashing back to him. Tears of sadness and regret mixed with his tears of joy. In the safety of his room, he finally let his emotions out.

A little while later, after he had calmed down, Adrien thought about what the next day would entail. He knew his friends were going to want to go visit her in the hospital tomorrow after school. He wanted to visit her too, he just had to be careful not to look like the guilty person who put her there. It might be hard keeping it together but he just had to see her with his own eyes; awake and smiling.

He would go to her as Chat Noir and apologize properly. Just maybe after she was better and out of the hospital.

There was also the matter of seeing Ladybug again. He didn't know the nature of the matter that kept her away from battle today, but hopefully he would hear from her soon too. Although he feared having to explain to her everything that went on. He knew she was going to find out somehow. If not from him, then from someone else. But it should be from him. It was only right to admit his own faults.

It was an accident. She'll at least understand that. Still, he dreaded facing Ladybug with this.

Even worse will be facing Marinette herself and begging for her forgiveness.

He couldn't bare the thought of either girl hating him.

* * *

**And that wraps up with the akuma. I originally had a different way of the fight going down, but I just wanted to wrap it up and move the story along. **

**I have a lot of ideas to create MariChat fluff. And my favorite; _spicy-fluff_. So I just want to get to that.**

**Stay home, stay healthy, and stay tuned ;) **


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